A single bugle, echoed by a second, played taps Memorial Day, Monday morning, May 29, in remembrance of those from Harvard who died while serving in the United States armed forces. Six times the buglers sounded their horns as wreaths were placed at the Civil War monument, Town Center Cemetery, the town center memorials, the World War I flagpole memorial on the Common, Bellevue Cemetery, and the Corporal Skillings memorial in Still River.
It was a chilly 51 degrees, but the rain held off as the keynote speaker, retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. George Glazier, spoke at the town center flagpole. He began, “Again our nation has assembled to honor its heroic dead.” His wife, retired U.S. Army 1st Lt. Elizabeth Glazier, stood at attention with 16 other veterans. These included those who had served in Vietnam, Operation Desert Storm, Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere.
As one Boy Scout read the name of each of the seven veterans who had died in the past year, another tolled a bell: Bartholomew Sennott, Army, World War II; Jerome Callahan, Army, World War II; Kenneth McNamara, Navy, World War II; Gordon “Bud” Evans, Navy, World War II; David Goldberg, Army, peacetime; Lawrence M. Finnegan, Army, Korea; and Paul Wood, Army, Vietnam. A benediction was read.
Approximately 250 townspeople stood solemnly through the ceremony. Among those standing at attention was 89-year-old former Korean War Army veteran Peter Johnston, twin brother of the late Paul “PJ” Johnston of Harvard. Johnston has been attending Memorial Day ceremonies in Harvard and Ayer for many years. There are only eight World War II veterans still residing in Harvard.
Prior to the keynote address, retired U.S. Navy Reserve Cmdr. Ron Ricci placed a wreath at the World War I monument and taps was played. Eighth-grade honors student KeSeok Lee was chosen to deliver the governor’s proclamation, which honors the memory of the Massachusetts citizens who fought and died in American wars and conflicts and whose “legacy of patriotism and dedication to country is an inspiration to all Americans.” The Nashoba Valley Concert Band rounded out the ceremony, performing “The Star-Spangled Banner” under the direction of John Blackwell of Lunenburg.
The Memorial Day parade
The Memorial Day ceremonies began earlier in the day with the 9:45 a.m. lineup of the parade units at Town Hall. Plans for the day were organized by retired Master Sgt. Dennis Lyddy and former U.S. Army Majs. Steve and Nancy Cronin. The color guard began marching promptly at 10 a.m., heading down Ayer Road with retired Army veteran Karen Briggs-Adams and recently retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Joseph Pulido carrying the national and state flags. They were flanked by former U.S. Army Cpl. Sumner Gilfix and Navy veteran Lorin Johnson, shouldering rifles. A total of 18 veterans marched in formation. Fire Chief Rick Sicard joined 14 volunteer firefighters marching in their dress uniforms.
Following close behind were the Scouts: 23 Girl Scouts, Brownies, and Daisies, and 25 Boy and Cub Scouts, with their troop leaders. Some carried small U.S. flags. Residents, including family and friends, fell in behind the marchers.
Wreaths and geraniums
The parade first stopped at the Civil War monument by the old library, where Navy veteran Fred Hinchliffe placed the wreath. Retired U.S. Army Maj. David King read General Order No. 11 of May 5, 1868, the proclamation of what was then called Decoration Day. Taps was played.
At the next stop, the Scouts and other attending children placed 152 red geranium plants at veterans’ gravesites in Town Center Cemetery. Retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Jon Schoenberg placed the wreath at the Founders’ Flagpole and taps was played. Then the parade marched on to the town center memorials, where retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Dan Adams placed the wreath as taps was played again. The Nashoba Valley Concert Band played a medley of tunes as marchers headed to the flagpole on the Common. There, the main memorial events were held.
After the flagpole ceremony, the parade was released for reassembly at the Still River Post Office where former U.S. Army 1st Lt. Steve Colwell placed the wreath at Corporal Skillings’ memorial, and taps was played. Just before noon, the parade again reassembled at Bellevue Cemetery to honor gravesites of approximately 305 veterans with geraniums. Army veteran Johnston placed the last wreath, with his son standing by.
The Memorial Day events were preceded by a pancake breakfast prepared by church volunteers at the Unitarian Fellowship Hall. More than a hundred plates of pancakes, sausage, and blueberries were served by children from first grade through middle school.
War stories
Breakfast with a veteran, or several, held some surprises. Former Navy veteran Dr. Imre Toth was stationed in Virginia, Vietnam, and Boston. From 1965 to 1967, he worked with the Vietnamese Public Health Service in a program called the Military Provincial Hospital Augmentation Program. One of the hospitals where he worked was in Tam Kỳ, 30 miles south of Da Nang, on the south-central coast of Vietnam. There he treated 150 civilians with streptomycin to cure the plague (Pasteurella pestis, now called Yersinia pestis).
Former U.S. Navy assistant crew member Chuck Gamage had nine patrols on Polaris submarines from 1962 to 1970. These submarines carried nuclear warheads primarily to deter the Soviet Union from using nuclear weapons against the United States and its NATO allies, according to Gamage. He explained the submarine’s “system of rationality.” The number-one rule to live by, he said, was to “keep the people on the inside and the water on the outside.”
Retired U.S. Air Force Col. Jim DeZutter served from January 1955 to October 1981. He attended the Air Force Aviation Cadet Program and became a navigator in June 1956. He flew KC-97 aerial-refueling tankers. These tankers allowed short-range aircraft to serve as long-range bombers, among other things. Later, DeZutter flew B-57 bombers for four years in Japan.
After receiving his master’s degree in electrical engineering at the University of Southern California, DeZutter flew EB-66s, electronic warfare aircraft that detected and jammed enemy air defense radars and surface-to-air missiles. Assigned to Hanscom Air Force Base, DeZutter led the team that designed automated communication systems for tracking and linking air combat control systems.
Former U.S. Army 1st Lt. Steve Colwell graduated from Officer Candidate School and then served in the Military Intelligence Corps for six years. He was stationed in South Korea from 1966 to 1969.
‘Never forget’
When asked why he marches each year, Navy veteran submariner Ricci remembers his classmates from the U.S. Naval Academy who died in Vietnam. “We march to remember the people that aren’t there. Those of us that are veterans, it’s not our day. It’s for the guys that didn’t get to be veterans—it’s their day. We can never forget them,” he said.
